(8) Guidelines

"The vows taken at profession in the Benedictine Tradition...are
obedience, poverty, chastity, stability and conversion of manners...
It would seem to be two possible ways of understanding the vows:
1) perfection and 2) transformation...[As for perfection the} problem is
that this tension toward perfection may well be understood or limited
to the perfecting of only one level of the vows: an exterior level with
an accent on doing rather than on becoming or being.

The vows understood in the light of transformation are something quite
different. Here it is a matter of being. The vows, as they are interiorized,
deepen our being...Vital to the understanding and practice of the vows
is radicality...Rigidity is often its substitute. Rigidity is surface strictness;
radicality is a life totally immersed in the Mystery..."
[Jean-Marie Howe, O.C.S.O., SPIRITUAL JOURNEY, THE MONASTIC
WAY, St. Bede's Publications, 1989, pp. 60-62.]

Comment: At the time of the above writing, Sr. Jean-Marie was a
Trappist Abbess in Canada. In my estimation, she has hit upon
the two most important understandings when it comes to taking
vows--or even only approaching the special features presented in
the Benedictine Tradition.

It's true, too, that "perfection" may be an impossible word--at least
nowadays. Trying to be perfect is tense, and there actually can be
the tendency trying to be what one really is not. The perfect monastic,
only exteriorized, is not and never has been an honest expression
of the Benedictine Tradition. And, yes, it surely can lead to rigidity.

A rigid person, whether a monastic or not, defeats the open awareness
stressed in the Benedictine Tradition. A rigid person will not listen to
other ways much less to other people. There's no give-and-take,
no sharing--and that defeats the communal aspect of the Benedictines.

As for transformation, into the Christ Life for the Benedictine, well that
does involve "conversion of manners." Here we are talking about a
*process,* if you will. It's about evolving, about conscious development,
about raising-the-bar, moving to both more comprehensive and higher
levels of be-ing. This becoming is centered in the Formation Process.

In Benedictine-oriented monasteries, there's an expression for their
monastic life: the School of/for the Lord's Service. The monastic
community, behind the walls, provides the conditions in which the
individual can bump-up living in a close "in your face" community,
wherein all the human issues that challenge us are more closely
up-front and thus more demanding. Thus, the vows--the special
elements of the Benedictine Tradition--are important. They literally
are the tools to grow, to evolve, to form one's self towards the more
ideal. But it has to be done honestly, seriously interiorized!

Perfecting these Benedictine elements perhaps should be more
about "honing" such, polishing such into ever finer manners that
are both gentle and hospitable towards not only others but also
towards one's self.

The vows--or the formative means of the Benedictine Tradition--are
not meant to be harsh and dreadfully difficult. Rather they are like
wise guidelines for one who wishes to become a more spiritual
person. And they are guidelines that could easily apply and enhance
out in the world as well.